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New Yorkers will find out the identity of their next mayor this election day, in a contest that will determine who governs and defends the nation's largest city at a time when Donald Trump has threatened to send armed forces to the city.

In this context, New York has experienced a mayoral election that has matched two very different Democratic figures against each other. The election has turned into an acrimonious face-off, marked by accusations of racism and anti-Muslim sentiment, but it is the political differences between the two leading contenders that could have major implications for how the party performs in next year's midterm elections.

The Progressive Challenger

On the left side is the democratic socialist, the 34-year-old democratic socialist whose meteoric rise and grassroots campaign has attracted global notice. Representing the old guard is Andrew Cuomo, the former Democratic New York governor now campaigning independently – and enjoying the backing of ultra-rich donors and big business.

With days to go, it is the progressive, the one-time underdog who beat his opponent in the party primary who is firmly installed as the frontrunner. The candidate, who has campaigned on a platform of affordability and pledged to freeze rent for about two million New Yorkers, has outpaced his rival by double-digits across all surveys conducted in October, and it is very much the younger man's election to lose.

The Controversial Campaign

However, Cuomo, who stepped down as governor in recent years amid allegations of misconduct, has made it clear he will battle to the end, and not necessarily in an above-the-belt fashion. He has trashed his opponent's goals as unrealistic, and in the final stretch chuckled along as a radio host made anti-Muslim comments about Mamdani, who is a Muslim. Recently, the independent was strongly criticized as racist after sharing an artificial intelligence video that featured a slew of racial caricatures and showed Mamdani freeing a group of criminals.

This represents a particularly ugly end to an election that could be critical to the direction that the party, struggling in its reaction to the former president's authoritarian grabs, adopts in the coming years.

Broader Consequences

If Mamdani secures a clear victory, the party establishment who have refused to endorse his campaign will be compelled to address a platform that has appealed to voters' frustration at economic disparity, inflation and the political elite. It would be hard for Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries not to embrace at least a portion of Mamdani's progressive proposals about economic justice, given the newcomer has generated an excitement within the party arguably not witnessed since the Vermont senator ran for president in 2016.

Conversely, if the former governor, who had been expected to sail to victory in the June primary, complete a surprising riches-to-rags-to-riches win, it could reinforce the party's existing approach of considered, lackluster resistance – a tactic that has infuriated grassroots members. A New York defeat of Mamdani's optimistic platform could persuade party leaders that the wisest course is to stick to the political center – even as polls show the present version of the Democratic party is deeply unpopular nationwide.

Campaign Energy

Residents of New York appear to favor the Mamdani vision. Polls show that Mamdani supporters are far more enthusiastic about their candidate than Cuomo backers, something that has been evident during the race. Mamdani's engaging content on digital platforms, his optimistic vision for New York and his readiness to actually get out and connect with voters in the city has drawn an army of over fifty thousand supporters, many of them youth or new participants.

Personal Attacks

Yet, Cuomo, in his late sixties, isn't giving up. And with the stakes against him, the ex-leader has resorted to ugly messaging in the final days.

Following extensive throwing basically everything at Mamdani to see what might resonate, Cuomo has narrowed his focus on attacking the candidate personally. He has labelled his rival, who was of Ugandan origin to South Asian heritage, an "radical", and popped up on conservative media for an interview with a rightwing host, where the candidate claimed New York “will not survive” his opponent as mayor. It hit bottom last week, when Cuomo laughed along and said “that’s another problem” after a broadcaster said Mamdani would “cheer” another terrorist incident.

Campaign Dynamics

The line of attack mirrors much of what the former president, who has sent the national guard to the capital and threatened to do the same to New York, has said about Mamdani, and perhaps that is expected. A set of wealthy residents, including some who donated to Trump in the last presidential race, have invested heavily into trying to get the independent into office, as other influential figures have urged Curtis Sliwa to drop out from the race.

Candidate Backgrounds

For the his team, and his wealthy backers, are worried, it should not have reached to this. When the assemblyman, one of 150 state legislators, started his campaign for mayor in October 2024, few had known him, and in truth, few even noticed.

The former governor, by contrast, eased his way into the contest in this year and became the instant favorite. He was the political heavyweight who apparently held every edge. The quintessential establishment figure, he had married a political dynasty member and worked in a Democratic presidency. He became New York governor in over a decade ago, 17 years after his parent, Mario Cuomo, left office from the identical role.

The progressive, who was elected to the state legislature in recently, does not have the same political heritage. But his commitment to providing no-cost transit and free childcare – along with the freeze-the-rent pledge – present a more positive vision of the future than Cuomo’s pessimistic predictions about “mayhem” and unfettered crime, and his vow to hire more police officers.

Campaign Controversies

Nevertheless, the candidate has encountered some challenges in the final phase, after video surfaced suggesting him suggesting the New York police department and the Israel Defense Forces were connected.

“We have to make clear that when the pressure of the police is on your throat, it’s been laced by the IDF,” the candidate said in the recording, filmed at a DSA gathering in 2023. Mamdani, a longtime critic of Israel who has said the country is engaging in atrocities in the Palestinian territory, suggested he was criticizing cooperative programs between the city police and Israeli forces.

Emotional Response

As the race closes, the candidate appears to have won sympathy and support, however, for his response to his opponent's increasing rhetoric.

The progressive addressed the independent's 9/11 remarks in an heartfelt recording. In it, the candidate recalled how, when he first campaigned for state assembly, a Muslim uncle suggested to him that he did not have to disclose about his religion. It was a lesson, he said, that many Muslim New Yorkers had been told “again and again”: “That security could only be found in the shadows of our city. That it is in those hidden spaces alone where followers of Islam could embrace their full identities, and that if we were to emerge from those shadows, then it is in those shadows that we must set aside our beliefs.”

Speaking to the behavior of his opponents, who has claimed Mamd